The exhibition tells, in short, the evolution of the cartographic representation of the coastal and marine environment, from the sixteenth century to the present, the heritage of historical maps of the Institute for the Study Adriatic (ISMAR - CNR). The theme of the exhibition is the measure of the depth of the seas, called bathymetry, early estimates, obtained by dropping a stone hanging from a rope, with depth sounders, until the very recent geophysical survey techniques. The comparison of old maps documenting the one hand, the evolution of the coast lines and the progressive increase of interest in the performance of the seabed and, secondly, the very evolution of cartography as a representation technique that can now take aspects of a time not observable.

It passes gradually from the two-dimensional vision, the representation of the coastline, to the three-dimensional, the sea and its depth, represented as discrete values ​​first, then as contour lines and, today, as the digital terrain model.

Determine the shape of the container 'sea', it offers some four-dimensional visions, which attempt to capture its temporal evolution: the extension of the Adriatic which changes in accordance with changes in sea level, education or melting of polar ice, and the circulation of the water masses, at its core, which changes according to the seasons and the weather and that can be represented by the new oceanographic models developed by ISMAR.